THIS NEW CAR WAS LYING UNDERGROUND 50 YEARS

imagine winning a free all-original 1957 plymouth belvedere classic car with only four miles on the odometer that is interwoven with the local culture and heritage sounds amazing right okay here's the catch the car doesn't run it's held together only by rust and mud and has spent the last 50 years buried in a waterlogged concrete vault who put it there and why let's find out as you probably know in the United States of America time capsules with messages for people of the future quite popular in general they may contain all kinds of objects that describe the time when the capsule was made and in 1957 there was no exception for such an event to commemorate Oklahoma's 50th anniversary of statehood the city of tulsa chose to bury eight brand-new gold and white 1957 plymouth belvedere in a vault beneath the lawn of the city courthouse not only was the car a time capsule its trunk packed with relics and keepsakes from the state's culture past but it was also a prized all the lucky individual had to do was accurately guess what the city's population would be in 2007 to win the car eight hundred and twelve people entered the long term contest their answers were copied onto a microfilm and stuffed into the glove box of the car since the car was buried during the height of the Cold War with the Soviet Union the vault which contained her was built out of reinforced concrete capable of withstanding a nuclear bomb with great fanfare the shrink-wrap car was lowered into its tomb the air pumped out six inch thick concrete slabs were lowered on top followed by more than two feet of dirt thus sealing the car and what was believed to be an impressive prepped up invincibility aura and mystique surrounded the car as she set underground as local residents were well aware of the eventual date in which the car would be opened as the year 2007 neared Belvedere fever began to spread throughout the city-state in even the country a website was set up buried car comm just for miss Belvedere's fans which included photos in a message forum the unearthing was going to be the biggest event that ever hit the city planning for it began years in advance a full 18 months before the anticipated opening of the vault preparations began Tulsa residents who are lining up to volunteer in any capacity to be part of what was indeed a historical event the internet easily buzzed with search after search of miss Belvedere people poured in from all over to gaze at the work the volunteers had done to the site only weeks remaining workers needed to open just a part of the vault of the ceiling in order to inspect the vehicle for exa mayshen as eager excited onlookers gazed down at them workers peeled back the last of the dirt in Rock and opened the first slab of concrete the sunlight pierced the vault for the first time in 50 years illuminating a sad sight inside it's still covered in her supposed waterproof plastic breath miss Belvedere Lane half submerged in a pool of nasty stagnant water her concrete vault designed to survive nuclear destruction simply wasn't designed to be waterproof further inspection by the workers confirmed that groundwater had filled the vault completely hopelessly submerging miss Belvedere up to her rooftop plastic wrap or not there was little hope for a drivable car now she now had more in common with the Titanic than that of an automobile excitement still filled the air as a crane lifted the car onto a flatbed truck hundreds of people watched as miss Belvedere begins her final journey to the Tulsa Convention Center for unveiling almost nine thousand people packed into the Tulsa Convention Center to witness the historic somewhat heartbreaking unveiling of miss Belvedere pulling the rotting plastic wrap away reveal the true state of the car a heartbreaking rusted pile of metal a thick coat of rust covered every square inch of the car inside and out the interior had completely rotted away the engine rusted solid with no hope of ever starting again the microfilm of the ballot entries was nowhere to be found disintegrated in the glove box the woman's purse an unrecognizable lump of soggy goo some items survived also missing was the cars key having been made from aluminum it too likely disintegrated if you remember the lucky person who guessed what Tulsa's population would be in 2007 wins the car winner was Raymond Anderson who unfortunately died in 1979 so the car was handed over to his 100 year old sister if there is one thing apparent amongst Miss Belvedere's new owner the car needed restoration and cleanup the problem is the damage to the car is so complete enough pressure could easily send one's finger through the quarter-inch panel steel not to mention the decade's worth of rust that covered every square inch inside and out ultra one a company specializing in high quality rust removal products approached the owners of the wayward Plymouth with an offer to D rust and stabilize the car with the owners blessings she was moved to their facilities they plan to stabilize the car enough to turn it over to a restoration place preliminary test results yielded remarkable results using their safest rust remover ultra one tested various components in and around the car a quarter panel - value covers among other parts each showed significant rust removal a donor Belvedere was secured to rebuild the undercarriage and framework plans were outlined to pull the motor and rebuild it ultra one sink $20,000 into Miss Belvedere's D resting process and once it was complete her restoration ground to a halt at first glance her condition could be considered pretty remarkable she looked far better than the day she was unveiled her chrome gleaned once again her windows transparent it's not until you get up close to her that the reasons for her halted restoration becomes apparent while the paint had been D rusted much of it had bubbled and peeled the engine had such buildup of silt in it that it rendered it impossible to rebuild no attempt had been made to restore the interior the owners have since attempted to donate the car to a museum for static display as a piece of 1950s Americana its historical value is without question but the poor state of the car has left many turning a deaf ear the city of Tulsa rejected the idea of displaying it no doubt eager to distance itself from disappointment the car brought in 2007 the Smithsonian Institute also declined to accept the car stating that it was not America's garage seven years of exile finally end with some exciting news for miss Belvedere in June 2015 the white foster finally secured a new home for the rusty old car historic Auto attractions Museum of Illinois has agreed to give miss Belvedere at permanent home amongst its seventy five car collection in the summer of 2017 the car was loaded onto a semi for transport to Illinois the exhibit is set to open in 2018 while it may not have been the fantasy ending to her journey many had hoped for at least the car will live on for generations what do you think about this car share your thoughts in the comments below thanks for watching subscribe for more [Music] [Music]

Channel: THE MAGNUM

Views: 21,202,522

Keywords: Top 10, 10 Most, top 5, blow your mind, car, cars, new car, it was dug up only 50 years later, bail out, car was lying underground, 50 years later, find, underground, this new car was lying underground, belvedere, rare cars, retro cars, collection cars, vehicles, automobiles, transport, car restoration, the magnum

Id: wMxxS4tRhLM

Length: 10min 2sec (602 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 21 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/ice445]

This is a really good example of some of the failings of human nature.

[u/markyarto]

Yeah it’s sad, but I don’t get the point of restoring it. It’s only noteworthy as the car that a city accidentally gave a 50 year witch test to, so by all means halt the rot, but restoring it? It’s a terrible base to start from. In the grand scheme of things just save the parts, money and effort to bring several other belvederes back to former glory.

[u/oalsaker]

Miss Belvedere is so famous, she has her own wikipedia page.

[u/BBOW3220]

That video was completely ruined by all the cutaways.

[u/[deleted]]

The voice editing for that video is annoying. Far to obvious